Song Drabbles
by 5222008
Summary: itunes drabble challenge for Quinn and Rachel


iTunes Drabble Challenge

**Challenge:**

1. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.

2. Turn your music player on and turn it on random/shuffle.

3. Write a drabble/ficlet related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over. No lingering afterwards!

4. Do ten of these, then post them.

David Bowie "Changes"

Quinn wasn't exactly sure how she ended up here, in Rachel Berry's bed, watching Angus serenade Kit on an episode of "The L Word."

"So you're _sure_ he's not a serial killer? 'Cause I seriously get that vibe from him."

Rachel groaned.

"Quinn! For the last time! He and Kit are one of the few functional relationships on this show. Well, for now, at least."

Quinn wasn't convinced, but it was a nice song, and his voice really was lovely, so she let it go.

"So, changes, huh?" She removed Rachel's hand from its place on her leg and kissed her palm. "We know about changes."

"That we do, Quinn." Rachel blushed. "Now shhh! Look! It's Alice and she's mentally unstable!"

Quinn laughed and snuggled more securely under the covers, hugging Rachel closer to her and considering herself very grateful for changes.

Counting Crows "Good Time"

Quinn was just looking for a good time. That's how she found herself in Noah Puckerman's arms, drinking wine coolers she didn't want and—eventually, reluctantly, after much convincing—agreeing to have sex with him.

Later, once Quinn begun to pay for that error, she decided to quit looking for good times. Even though she still wanted to be just like everybody else, she knew she couldn't afford to make the same mistake twice. She quit drinking, quit bullying, quit Glee and the Cheerios and everything else she could get away with quitting.

"It's going to be okay, Quinn," said Rachel, late at night when she was holding Quinn.

"No, it's not, Rach." Quinn was used to Rachel trying to make her feel better, but it never really worked. "I don't really _want_ to fall apart, you know. It just… happened… somehow."

"I know." Rachel was silent, running her hands up and down Quinn's back and willing her to believe that good times weren't the end of the world. That Quinn could look for good times with Rachel, and that it would be ok.

Thomas Mapfumo "Marima Nzara"

Rachel loved musicals, sure, but her tastes went so much further than that. The first thing Quinn learned — when she started spending some time, then later a lot of time, and then _all_ her time — with the petite brunette was that Rachel was just as likely to listen to dance punk music as she was to Broadway, just as likely to listen to Ladysmith Black Mambazo as to _The Pajama Game_.

"Don't you ever just want to move to Africa and learn to play the drums?" Rachel asked wistfully, staring at a blank calculus worksheet.

"Umm, no?" Quinn was confused. She hated when Rachel got like this — unfocused, whimsical, thoroughly unlike the Rachel she knew and (okay, fine, twist her arm) _loved._

"Maybe the marimba?" Rachel tapped the rhythm of the song with her pencil, and began dancing in her seat.

"Can't you learn to play the drums _here_?" Quinn asked. "I'd really miss you if you moved to Africa."

Rachel laughed and wrapped her arms around Quinn. "I'd never leave you, babe. You'll just have to come with me."

Quinn snorted.

"No really! Maybe when you're a doctor with _Medecins sans Frontieres_, we'll move to Zimbabwe or Malawi and you'll treat people and I'll learn to play the drums and entertain your patients!"

Quinn saw the yearning in Rachel's eyes and decided not to argue, pulling Rachel even closer instead, and laying her head on the shorter girl's shoulder.

"That sounds great, babe. I'm ready when you are."

Paul McCartney "Listen to What the Man Says"

"It's not that I don't _want _to be out at school, Rach. It's just that, well, I'm a Cheerio and—"

"And I'm a gleek." Rachel grimaced at the term. "I get it, Quinn."

"Actually, not what I was going to say." Quinn scowled at her girlfriend for interrupting her.

"Oh," said Rachel, abashedly. "Continue, then, please."

"I'm a Cheerio and Coach Sylvester—"

"—Coach demon spawn—"

"—has this new rule about no 'romantic entanglements' during the football season. She says emotions make us weak and something about Spartans but I wasn't really listening by then."

"You're not ashamed of me?" Rachel asked, astonished.

"Of course not, baby!" Quinn laughed. "Fuck what everyone at McKinley says. We're getting out of here in nine months and then we can ride the front motorcycle in the pride parade. This is just for the season!"

Rachel smiled and internally cursed Coach Demon Spawn and her stupid rules.

Train "Homesick"

Sometimes, even all these years later, Quinn missed Lima. She missed walking around the town, recognizing people. People knew her name in Lima. In Lima, she was beautiful.

In New York, Quinn was just average. Even her barista, who served Quinn every morning for three years, knew her only by her order. No one in New York remembered her name.

In Lima, Puck and Finn still talked about her. They still bragged, to anyone who would listen, that Quinn had loved them, once. Quinn was still news in Lima — she knew that Puck looked up her cases and bought the bar a round when she won one.

In New York, even her paralegal wasn't entirely sure of her name. "Ms. Fabree" was what she got called more often than not.

In Lima, her daughter was starting middle school. Beth had Quinn's laugh and Puck's eyes and Shelby's drive and was proud of her birth mama. Shelby updated Quinn on Beth and Beth on Quinn and, although they'd never met, both felt as if they knew the other.

In New York, Rachel was getting ready for that night's show. Rachel, her beautiful wife, the reason she stayed, no matter how homesick she got.

Jimmy Buffett "Stars on the Water"

When Quinn was a kid, her father would listen to Jimmy Buffett during the summer. When he fired up the grill, making burgers for the family, he would put on a pair of old shorts and an old Hawaiian shirt and would dance in the backyard with an unlit cigar in his mouth.

Quinn would dance with him. When she was very little, he would set her on his shoulders and sway. She was on top of the world. Later, he taught her to jitterbug, and they would playfully dance around the pool while he waited for steaks to brown.

Quinn's father stopped listening to Jimmy Buffett when she was 13. She remembered the exact day. Her mother had fixed him a daiquiri, turned on the music, and handed him a platter of marinated chicken. He refused the drink, turned off the music, and told Judy it was the man's job to pay for food and the woman's job to prepare it.

Quinn still doesn't know what changed, but now when she hears Jimmy Buffett she cries and thinks of things that might have been.

Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers "Leaky Little Boat"

Quinn likes to be alone with Rachel. It isn't that she's ashamed of her girlfriend, they're out at school and home, and they hold hands walking around town. It's just that when they're alone, Rachel relaxes and is carefree and likes to plan island vacations instead of Glee routines.

That's why Quinn is so glad to be in the Dominican Republic for a full week of sun, sand, and Rachel. The trip had been a graduation present from Rachel's parents — a last hurrah before the girls moved to New York to start college.

Currently, Quinn is lying on a towel on the warm sand in Punta Cana, watching her adorable girlfriend build a sand castle with the herd of kids who've been following her for the last four days. Rachel catches her eye and blows her a kiss.

Rachel doesn't know that Quinn plans to propose tonight. Quinn has the ring in their room. It's nothing fancy, but there is a diamond. (So what if you need a magnifying glass to see it?) Quinn knows she'll say yes. She has no doubt, no fear, even though she knows they're much too young.

Quinn thinks that, for the honeymoon, maybe they'll take another trip to the islands. Just her, Rachel, and a leaky little boat. Sounds like heaven to Quinn.

Submarines "Brighter Discontent"

Rachel knew she should be ecstatic. She was all moved in to her brand-new New York apartment — there would be no dorm rooms for the Berry family princess — and was spending her first night as a resident the city she had been dreaming of for sixteen years.

Instead, she was staring at the pictures on the wall and thinking about Quinn. All these things in her apartment — brand new bookshelves, a new couch, a big tv set — should make her happy, but Rachel couldn't find happiness in her new belongings. She tried not to look around too much; she tried to just let the time pass.

She sighed and went to bed. She knew Quinn would be joining her in the morning, that Judy had just wanted one last night with her daughter. Without her, though, the empty apartment was depressing.

Thao "When We Swam"

Quinn taught Rachel to swim the summer after junior year.

Rachel knew that she should know how to swim, she had attended lessons at the YMCA with all her friends as a little kid, but unlike Quinn (who finished at Shark and was now a lifeguard), Rachel quit at Guppy. She just didn't like putting her face under water without something keeping the water out of her nose.

All spring, Quinn pleaded, she wheedled, she made bargains and promises. Nothing worked. Rachel swore to stay on the side of the pool, enjoying the sun and keeping Quinn company at her summer job.

All that went right out the window the first time she saw Quinn in her bright red lifeguard swimsuit.

"Hey, Quinn?"

"Yeah, babe?"

"If I learn to swim, we can do other stuff in the pool, too, right?"

Quinn laughed and pulled Rachel towards her. This would be fun.

Dave Matthews Band "Stay"

Quinn's favorite song came through her headphones as she and Rachel laid on their backs in the middle of Central Park. It was the hottest day of the summer, and the park was practically deserted. Rachel had wanted to go sit out, though, so here they were.

Behind her sunglasses, Quinn's eyes wandered over Rachel's impossibly compact frame. She was wearing short shorts and a bikini top, her hair tied back and her weight propped on one elbow as she read a magazine.

A bead of sweat trickled down her face and, as it reached her neck, Quinn reached out a finger and caught it. She licked her finger, enjoying the salty taste of sweat and the sweet taste of Rachel's skin.

She hadn't brought a book. She was too busy watching her girlfriend enjoy the heat. A vender walked by with his cart, and Quinn jogged over to buy two bottles of water and, even better, two popsicles.

"Thanks, love!" Rachel enthusiastically bit into her grape popsicle and laughed as the juice rolled down her chin.

As Quinn watched Rachel laugh, carefree and glowing in the bright sun, she decided she was more than ok with staying in the park the whole day. Mostly, though, she just really wanted to stay with Rachel for as long as the other girl would let her.


End file.
